About “A Star Is Born”

This song chronicles everybody who has been a star in the rap game while Jay’s been in it (although not in chronological order). The point is that while everybody has had his time to shine and fade, Jay-Z has been the only constant throughout. He is still on top. So though he’s giving props throughout this song, in doing so he’s underscoring how great he is

Two notable omissions: Game and Cam'ron, both of whom had beef with Jay. Coincidence?

This song has been locked and is considered "done." You need 600 IQ to add annotations to locked songs.

How did J. Cole land himself on this song?

In an interview with Complex, Cole explains that he was doing a show in Virginia when he got a call from Mark Pitts. The rest is history as told by Jermaine:

I get a get a call from Mark Pitts and he’s like, “Yo nigga, Jay just hit me. He said he got something big for you.” I was like, “Oh shit, what you mean?” He said, “He got this Kanye track… something about a star is born…some shit about a star.” I thought, from his explanation, because you can tell he wasn’t too clear on it, I thought Jay just had a joint for me. I thought it would be mine, and I was on some shit like, “Ahhh, I don’t like being told ‘get on this’ ” or whatever. But I’m like, “Damn!”

How long did it take J. Cole to write his verse?

Cole tells Complex that it took nearly an hour to write his verse. The first five to ten minutes to clear his head and the rest to write his verse.

The first five to ten minutes was spent with me trying to clear my mind, because 90 percent of my thoughts was like, “I’m in the studio with Jay-Z.” He’s sitting on the couch watching me write, watching my process. He was trying to act like he wasn’t watching.